Emese went out to collect snails with Feri. Feri was the son of the host family. His teenage years had stretched him tall and thin, but his face remained pimpled. A snail dragged itself slowly across the burning surface of a stone. Feri pinched the animal between his fingers.

‘You have to hold it carefully,’ Feri said to the girl, while using his other hand to sweep his sweaty locks out of his eyes. Emese thought she heard a smack when the snail’s body detached from the stone.

‘You mustn’t crush it,’ Feri went on. He held the snail up to Emese’s face. ‘We’re looking for huge ones just like this. Look for the red stripe across their side, that sets them apart from other snails. Got it?’

Emese took a good look at the red stripe. The snail was trying to retreat into its shell, but it couldn’t; at this phase in their life cycle a thick secretion is generated in their mantle, preventing the animals from withdrawing. This is the fluid essential to the process of harvesting.

‘Touch it,’ the boy said.

Feri placed the snail on his palm and held it towards Emese. ‘No need to be afraid of it,’ he said to the girl. Emese took the snail. Its body was hot. The boy grinned, then quickly looked around. All the other kids were farther off, walking among the trees, eyes glued to the ground in search of snails.

‘Put it in your mouth,’ he told Emese.

‘Why?’

‘Just put it in your mouth.’

Emese played with the thought of placing the soft, slimy body onto her tongue. She imagined it would taste like overcooked pasta. She put the snail in the basket and shook her head. Feri laughed; he had a hoarse laugh.

‘Tourists should always follow our instructions. Didn’t my father tell you?’ he said.

Emese knew she should have rebelled, rebelled against it all. She should rebel even now for having to suffer the presence of such an imbecile teenager, but she knew she must be a nuisance for Feri as well. A visitor, just someone passing through over summer vacation. She decided there was still time for rebellion later.

‘It wasn’t my choice to come here, anyway. It’s my dad’s thing,’ she said and started for the woods.

Feri ran after the girl.

‘Wait,’ he said, and Emese, unwillingly, turned towards him. For a moment she thought she heard desperation in his plea. ‘What?’ she asked as coldly and indifferently as she could. Feri once more swept his sweaty locks aside; the more he did it, the more Emese found it annoying. The boy sighed deeply, his face reddening.

‘We should fuck,’ Feri said. ‘You wouldn’t regret it. I’ve been with a lot of girls already . . .’